Accessibility sets global example, surpasses Smithsonian guidelines

(Comments made by Stuart Murray, CMHR CEO, at a press conference held by the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) on January 29, 2013.)

Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us.
C’est un grand plaisir pour moi d’être ici avec vous ce matin.

It gives me great pleasure to be standing here today with members of the disability community to talk about a very important aspect of our Museum --- INCLUSION.

On 15 January 2013, a Quebec panel of legal experts suggested that provincial law could frame assisted suicide as part of the continuum of care offered in palliative care settings.  Making assisted suicide a palliative care treatment option is a matter of national concern because other jurisdictions may adopt the practice.  The Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD), a national organization working for an accessible and inclusive Canada, encourages

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Saviez-vous

qu’en 1981 le Canada créa un Comité parlementaire multipartite, chargé d’identifier les défis liés aux limitations fonctionnelles et de proposer des recommandations de changements?

Saviez-vous

que c’était la première fois qu’un inventaire d’une telle envergure était effectué sur les problèmes des personnes handicapées?

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Did you know…

that in 1981 Canada appointed an all-party House of Commons Committee to identify the challenges related to disability and to propose recommendations for change.

Did you know…

that this was the first time such an exhaustive inventory has been undertaken on disability.

Du plus profond de leur être et de leurs expériences, les personnes handicapées du monde entier savent que les guerres étendent leur manteau de mort et de destruction sur la vie et les êtres.  La capacité des armes de guerre modernes de dévaster les peuples, de brûler la mémoire humaine par de permanentes cicatrices de tragédies personnelles, d’anéantir les rêves et les espoirs des enfants, de mutiler et de blesser, n’est nulle part au monde plus éloquemment énoncée qu&rsquo

Disabled people all over the world know from their deepest personal experience, the capacity of war to cast its mantle of death and destruction over life and limb. The ability of modern weapons of war to devastate a people, to sear human memory with permanent scars of personal tragedy, to shatter the dreams and hopes of children, to maim and injure, is nowhere more eloquently proclaimed than here, the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima.

On June 15, 2012, the Supreme Court of British Columbia handed down its decision in the Carter case, opening the door for assisted suicide in Canada.  Justice Lynn Smith found that the “provisions of the Criminal Code of Canada prohibiting physician–assisted dying, unjustifiably infringe the equality rights of Gloria Taylor, and the rights to life, liberty and security of the person of Lee Carter, Gloria Taylor and Hollis Johnson.”  Gloria Taylor, a BC woman with ALS, was seeking the right for a physician assisted suicide at a time of her choosing when s

Le CCD félicite le gouvernement du Canada d’interjeter appel de la décision prononcée par la Cour suprême de la Colombie britannique dans l’affaire Lee Carter et Hollis Johnson et al. c. Le Procureur général du Canada.  Le 13 juillet 2012, l’honorable Robert Nicholson, ministre de la Justice et Procureur général du Canada a annoncé que:

CCD applauds the Government of Canada’s announcement that it is seeking to appeal the decision of the British Columbia Supreme Court in Lee Carter and Hollis Johnson et al. v. Attorney General of Canada.  On 13 July 2012, the Hon. Robert Nicholson, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, announced that, 

The Government is of the view that the Criminal Code provisions that prohibit medical professionals, or anyone else, from counselling or providing assistance in a suicide, are constitutionally valid.

Like other Canadians, people with disabilities have much to honour on Canada Day.  CCD applauds Canada’s progress on access and the inclusion of people with disabilities.  Some “access and inclusion” milestones are noted below.